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Here is a recycled post I made on a similar thread last September with some added highlighting.



Have followed them off and on since the late 90's and offer a brief history as I remember it.

25 years ago people who wanted a "real quality" custom rifle wanted a genuine pre-64 M70 or genuine Mauser 98 action, not some tubular push feed thing.

By the mid 90's the supply of unmolested pre-64 M70's and genuine M98's was drying up and becoming expensive so some guys got together and said "let's design a new action with the best features of both that we can sell at a reasonable price to the custom gunsmith market". So they did and called it the Model 1999 since it was designed in 1999. All they ever intended to do was supply custom gunsmiths with the raw material to make a quality CRF rifle.

They got the new action to market and said over and over and over and over and over - "this action is supplied in the rough to keep costs down, your gunsmith will have to do the final finishing". Did I mention that they said this to everyone who would listen? And that they said it to those listening over and over and over and over and over?

People, being idiots people, got the actions and were completely surprised and dismayed when it arrived in the rough so that their gunsmith had to do the final finishing. "Hey, this action is rough! WTF!? I expected something I could just attach a barrel and a stock to and show off to my friends!!"


So, somewhere along the line and this is where I stopped watching them for a while, they got together with a quality barrel maker of a confusingly similar name and Boyd's stocks and probably some other stock maker and started putting together a complete rifle. Complete rifles need a lot more company support than just sending an action out the door to a gunsmith who would then take responsibility for the finished rifle.

And that's when they pushed off on the slippery slope. They never could find the right people to build and support the product. They had one guy who was worth a damn and everybody else (that I talked to or communicated with) was sub-par in terms of being a dedicated employee.

They tried this and that but from what I can see they never found the people to support what was otherwise a fine design and mostly/usually a pretty well put together rifle.
About this same time the demographics of shooters willing to spend moderate to big bucks was changing from guys in their 50's-70's wanting show off quality custom rifles to guys who wanted black tactical rifles in chassis stocks with push feed actions being perfectly suitable if not preferred.

They also put themselves in a bad niche. They priced the rifle at a point a good bit higher than a factory M700, M77 or M70 and guys wanting a "good quality" rifle couldn't see the reason to spend more money over a M700, M77 or M70, but it wasn't high enough and the quality wasn't truly top notch enough to capture the hearts and minds of the real carriage trade.

And that brings us to the present, requiem MRC.


The above is all IIRC, so if anyone recalls differently please chime in.


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The actions were an action kit but, nonetheless, could be made into a nice enough action.They did not mimic 98 Mauser gas handling because, when they designed their inner barrel seat or c-ring, they opted to go with a coned breech, like the Model 70, rather than have the collar surround the bolt nose and block off the left raceway, like the Mauser. They had some real issues with warpage in heat treating and the first step in straightening one up was often " 1. Pick up your hammer."
On average, it took three or four hours for me to straighten one and correct their polishing efforts. The bottom metal was heavy but there was a lot of metal there for contouring.
For the price, they were OK and had some good features.The people who took over the company will probably fail due to a confused business model and lack of focus. GD

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You're right, the Montana action "did not minic 98 Mauser gas handling," but the bolt shroud was flanged, which probably diverts gas away from the shooter's face as much as any factor in the 98's design.

Winchester somehow missed this, among other things. Even the later CRF Model 70s, which have what is supposedly a gas-block on the left side of the bolt, let a LOT of gas blow right back into the shooter's face.


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Now have three 98s, two FNs and a Heym. The most I paid for any of them is just under $800. Two have the C-ring, for those who obsess over that. One is sort of a Franken-rifle I’ve futzed with a good bit, but the others arrived pretty much ready to hunt. Point being, you don’t have to settle for kinda-sorta Mausers (or M70s) if you are willing to look around a bit, and you don’t have to pay through the nose either. Was pretty interested in the Montanas until the trouble reports started popping.

One thing you can pretty well count on with a 98 in original factory form is, it will feed, extract, and eject as designed, until someone starts fiddling anyway. So far, the same can be said for the Hawkeyes I’ve owned, but that’s a much smaller sample. Only one left, a .223, and it’s definitely a keeper.


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Originally Posted by Mule Deer
You're right, the Montana action "did not minic 98 Mauser gas handling," but the bolt shroud was flanged, which probably diverts gas away from the shooter's face as much as any factor in the 98's design.

Winchester somehow missed this, among other things. Even the later CRF Model 70s, which have what is supposedly a gas-block on the left side of the bolt, let a LOT of gas blow right back into the shooter's face.

The bolt sleeve lock on the Model 70 kind of limited the option of a wide flange. The MRC used a different bolt sleeve lock which allowed for the more robust flange. Here again, the Mauser bolt sleeve lock was so good, there is no reason to design anything else, IMO. Nonetheless, I agree, the MRC is a lot better at gas handling than the Model 70. GD

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I bought one this year. I found a brand new stainless, LH XAR in 308. Absolute nail driver. Its certainly equal to a Winchester. Mine is better than any Winchester I've owned. My son has a customized M70 thats equally as good as the Montana

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Weren't their actions manufactured with a powdered metallurgy process?

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Cast by ruger. Pretty well done imho


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Originally Posted by Quak
Cast by ruger. Pretty well done imho


Pine Tree Castings who also casts for Ruger. But yes, same source as Ruger.

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Originally Posted by Mule Deer
Originally Posted by gsganzer
I wish MRC had stuck to (or gone back to) just supplying gunsmith ready actions. Unfortunately they kept getting dinged by folks that were expecting the actions to be finished.


Yep.

Their original intent was to supply controlled-feed actions to custom gunsmiths, who'd modify them slightly for whatever cartridge the customer chose. The design was a combination of the best Model 70 and Mauser 98 features--especially 98 gas-handling. It was NOT just a Model 70 clone, and offered quite a bit for the money.

But non-gunsmith customers kept buying them and finding they often didn't feed the cartridge they barreled them to very well. This was not the fault of the design--though MRC could have been better at communicating with customers, especially BEFORE buying an action. But quite a few good gunsmiths are relatively poor at customer service.


Yes, Keith and Jeff's original intent was for custom gunsmiths. However, one of their initial salesmen was not adverse to selling snake oil. He emphatically stated that MRC sold completely finished products. After a couple phone conversations with him I bought a barreled action chambered in 350 Rem Mag from them from their charter offerings. The action was trued by them, but the rails and feeding needed some work. I found out later that he had been let go for providing inaccurate information to customers. A local SW Michigan gunsmith cleaned it up for me and bedded it in a Win 70 Bell & Carlson stock (limited M1999 stock options at the time). I used it to take an AK black bear in 2005. I carried it for a few years after moving to AK the following year, but sold it as it was heavier than I prefer.



Last edited by JimInAK; 03/21/21.
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Originally Posted by JimInAK
Originally Posted by Quak
Cast by ruger. Pretty well done imho


Pine Tree Castings who also casts for Ruger. But yes, same source as Ruger.




Pine Tree Castings who IS Ruger no?

Also did the PPK and PPK/S for Interarms in the day.

Last edited by Quak; 03/21/21.

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It was my understanding that Pine Tree Castings was a contractor providing product to Ruger, and not owned by them. Has that changed?


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I knew the product connection, but didn't know the ownership tie. I stand corrected. Thanks!

Pine Tree Castings
Division of Sturm, Ruger & Co.
www.ruger.com infopinetreecastings.com

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No problem.
Sorry for just posting the link; was try to do 3 things at roughly the same time. smile

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For the 5% of the population to whom it matters, one special part of their offerings were true Left Hand CRF actions and complete rifles. I have owned 3 complete MRC SS LH rifles and one CM action. Two of the rifles purchased from SAS / Whitaker Group Buys would feed any bullet style horizontal right side up, horizontal upside down, vertical up, or vertical down, without issue, as delivered straight from MRC. And slick. Sold those like a fool. However, a 24HCF member has recently acquired the 6.5x55. Lucky guy... The bare CM action, as stated above, was rough. Rougher than the corduroy finish on a RAR bolt... The fourth rifle was also part of the group buy. However, original owner had issues with feeding. I've done some tinkering with one of the feed rails. It now feeds my preferred bullet (NPT) through all four orientations without issue.

Right before MRC folded for good, they were offering a factory rifle called the XAR. Basically a Win M70 FWT knock off that was advertised at 6lbs 13 oz. And it was available in Left Hand. Unfortunately, they folded before they got very many XAR's out the door. And the few reports that I've read, the XAR's that were produced, missed the weight target by at least 12 oz (too heavy).

All in all, MRC M1999 was a good idea and a design. But really poor execution...



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Originally Posted by RecoilRob
The "short" action MRC was just the right size for the .376 Steyr. I was going to have one built years ago, got all the parts together, MRC 1999, MRC .375 blank, CZ stock, Hornady brass, Warne rings, Zeiss 1x4. Could never find someone who would take the work. Still all in a box on the bench, these days I don't need anything that big...



Redneck here on the 'Fire built a 6.5x280AI for me on one of their 1999 actions. He built a wonderful rifle that is a true tack-driver. Whoever wants him to do the same for you had best hurry 'cause rumor is he's retiring from the gunsmithing bidness this fall.

Ed


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Originally Posted by Orion2000
For the 5% of the population to whom it matters, one special part of their offerings were true Left Hand CRF actions and complete rifles. I have owned 3 complete MRC SS LH rifles and one CM action. Two of the rifles purchased from SAS / Whitaker Group Buys would feed any bullet style horizontal right side up, horizontal upside down, vertical up, or vertical down, without issue, as delivered straight from MRC. And slick. Sold those like a fool. However, a 24HCF member has recently acquired the 6.5x55. Lucky guy... The bare CM action, as stated above, was rough. Rougher than the corduroy finish on a RAR bolt... The fourth rifle was also part of the group buy. However, original owner had issues with feeding. I've done some tinkering with one of the feed rails. It now feeds my preferred bullet (NPT) through all four orientations without issue.

Right before MRC folded for good, they were offering a factory rifle called the XAR. Basically a Win M70 FWT knock off that was advertised at 6lbs 13 oz. And it was available in Left Hand. Unfortunately, they folded before they got very many XAR's out the door. And the few reports that I've read, the XAR's that were produced, missed the weight target by at least 12 oz (too heavy).

All in all, MRC M1999 was a good idea and a design. But really poor execution...



Thats the rifle I got. I dont find it overly heavy and i bought it for the mountains. Nicely balanced rifle, and shoots better than I can.

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Originally Posted by APDDSN0864
Redneck here on the 'Fire built a 6.5x280AI for me on one of their 1999 actions. He built a wonderful rifle that is a true tack-driver. Whoever wants him to do the same for you had best hurry 'cause rumor is he's retiring from the gunsmithing bidness this fall.

Ed


Well shoot. If that's the case I need to get cracking on something that I've had in my head for sometime.


"An archer sees how far he can be from a target and still hit it, a bowhunter sees how close he can get before he shoots." It is certainly easy to use that same line of thinking with firearms. -- Unknown
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Originally Posted by yukon254
Originally Posted by Orion2000

...


Thats the rifle I got. I don't find it overly heavy and i bought it for the mountains. Nicely balanced rifle, and shoots better than I can.

Color me jealous... smile Your rifle with a 24" Mountain Rifle contoured barrel chambered for 6.5x55, 7x57, or .270 Win would be about perfect for most of my hunting...



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